Chapter 10: The Autumn Harvest Display in the Mountain Villages of Southern Anhui

Jiang Yuan asked her mother for her own thoughts.

Jiang Lanfang asked, "What does an MCN company actually do?"

Jiang Yuan gave an analogy: "It’s like the talent agency that celebrities sign with. An MCN company is an incubator for internet influencers. They sign many promising creators and build personal brands for them. The Weinian company that caused so much trouble for Li Ziran was an MCN. The reason she stopped updating her content a few years ago was because the MCN she signed with caused her a lot of trouble and effectively sabotaged her."

Jiang Lanfang decisively refused: "Then let's not sign. I'm afraid of being scammed. Yuan, what do you think? Do you want Mom to sign, or not?"

Jiang Yuan replied: "Signing with an MCN can indeed help build a personal brand faster, and they can provide more professional services. But as you fear, there are many traps in their contracts. Most MCNs cast a wide net with little investment; if they strike gold, they’ve signed a cash cow, and if they lose, it’s no great loss to them. We sometimes joke that MCNs are legal bullies. Once a content creator gets trapped, it's impossible to get out. So, I think we should just do our own thing for now and not sign."

Jiang Lanfang trusted her daughter's opinion implicitly: "Then we'll do it ourselves. How about you take a look at the video Mom spent over an hour editing?"

Jiang Lanfang played the video she had spent more than an hour editing and clicked the preview button. Jiang Yuan pressed her pillow against her mother's and gave her a thumbs up: "It's absolutely fantastic! When my mom takes the stage, no one can compete."

Jiang Lanfang laughed happily: "You only know how to say sweet things. Alright, I'm posting it."

Jiang Yuan: "Yeah, go ahead."

After Jiang Lanfang posted the video, she seemed to remember something important. She opened WeChat, transferred twenty thousand yuan to her daughter, and patted her chest, saying: "Send a screenshot to your dad. Who does he think he's looking down on? I said I'd give my daughter twenty thousand a month, and I mean twenty thousand a month."

Jiang Yuan hugged her mother's arm and acted spoiled: "My mom is so imposing! I'm so happy. Living at home as a dependent is better than being a deity."

Jiang Lanfang was so pleased by her daughter's flattery that she couldn't stop smiling. A WeChat notification popped up on her phone; it was a photo of scenery sent by Chen Qingyan, taken just moments ago.

Seeing the notification on her mother's screen, Jiang Yuan curiously stretched her neck to take a peek, but Jiang Lanfang pushed her head away: "What are you peeking at? Go back to your room and sleep."

Jiang Yuan giggled: "Mom, is there something I'm not allowed to see? Just let me take one look. I want to see how Uncle Cheng is pursuing you."

Jiang Lanfang replied: "What nonsense are you talking about? Old Cheng just sent me photos of his night run. Still looking? When you were in high school hiding your diary, did I ever snoop through it? Go to sleep, it's almost midnight."

Jiang Yuan reluctantly hugged her pillow and got out of bed. After being shooed out of the room, she returned to her own bedroom. But how could she possibly sleep so early? As a member of Gen Z, she was a night owl who spent her time off binge-watching shows, following celebrities, scrolling through Xiaohongshu, or playing games—she was busy!

As soon as she logged into the game, she saw an invitation from "Lone Island" and joined the session.

Jiang Yuan turned on her mic: [Big shot, how did it go with that influencer you talked to this afternoon?]

Lone Island: [Still stubborn as a mule. They're still texting my elders now. How about that weird guy you encountered? Did you end up slapping him?]

Jiang Yuan: [I don't want to talk about him.]

Dominating the Kindergarten: [What weird guy? Ruyi, is someone bullying you? Big brother will help you slap him! How dare he bully my teammate? He must be tired of living!]

Jiang Yuan: [I can handle it for now.]

SQUID GAME 001: [Lone Island, have you two met up in person? Is Huangshan fun? When the holidays come, my girlfriend and I are planning to go to Huangshan for a vacation.]

Lone Island: [I plan on wandering around tomorrow, but the weather forecast says it will rain, so I'm not sure where to go yet.]

Jiang Yuan: [It's fine to go out in the rain. Visiting Xidi and Hongcun in the rain is very atmospheric, as is Chengkan. The misty, rainy scenery of the Jiangnan region is so beautiful. My dad's ancestral home is in Chengkan, and I'm planning to go visit my grandmother sometime soon. Want to go together? Tomorrow won't work, but I'm free the day after. Shall we make a plan?]

Lone Island: [Sure.]

Jiang Yuan: [I checked the weather; the day after tomorrow is going to be sunny. If you want to see the sea of clouds, go to Huangshan tomorrow afternoon and stay on the summit for the night. You'll definitely see the most beautiful sea of clouds in Huangshan the next morning. Huangshan after the rain is the most beautiful, especially the West Sea Grand Canyon—it's misty, and if you take the little train, it's like a fairyland, even more ethereal than the virtual scenes in our games. I really recommend you go.]

Dominating the Kindergarten: [I went to Huangshan a few years ago and didn't see the sea of clouds.]

Jiang Yuan: [Visiting Huangshan is all about the weather. If it rains the day before, the chance of a sea of clouds the next day is very high, and the sunrise will be spectacular.]

Dominating the Kindergarten: [Then Lone Island, stop wandering around the villages. Go straight up the mountain tomorrow afternoon. If you want to see the sunrise, you can stay at Bright Summit or the West Sea Hotel. I stayed at the West Sea Hotel with my family last time, and the sunrise was indeed excellent.]

Lone Island: [Let me think about it. For now, I'm more interested in the ink-wash painting scenery of the misty Jiangnan. No rush; I might stay in Huangshan for half a month or even a month to do some in-depth research. Tomorrow during the day, I still want to visit the Liyang Water Street and sketch some scene designs. I walked around at night, and I couldn't see it clearly; the visual effect is better during the day.]

Jiang Yuan: [OK. Then let's meet in Chengkan the day after tomorrow.]

Lone Island: [Alright.]

The slightly deep voice of "Lone Island" came through the microphone. Jiang Yuan always felt this voice sounded a bit like that weird guy, Chen Yubai, but she quickly dismissed the thought, feeling she was overthinking it. Men with slightly deep voices all sounded more or less the same.

Besides, "Lone Island" had been dealing with a young influencer these past two days, while Cheng Yubai had been sightseeing and eating good food at her house. The two sets of information didn't match at all.

Jiang Yuan quickly cast the strange thought to the back of her mind. After playing for an hour, she saw it was already 1:00 AM, so she decisively logged out of the game and turned off the lights to sleep.

The next day, she spent the whole day under the persimmon tree in the courtyard with her laptop, writing a detailed proposal on how to build her mother's personal brand on Douyin. In the evening, she rode her electric scooter to the city, found a print shop, and excitedly printed it out. That night, when her mother was free, she presented it to Jiang Lanfang like a treasure.

Jiang Lanfang flipped through two pages, but it was like a bucket of cold water: "What is this?"

Jiang Yuan: "It's a personalized brand development plan I tailored for you."

Seeing the dense walls of text, Jiang Lanfang felt a headache coming on: "Yuan, I think the videos I’m posting spontaneously are just fine. What netizens like is the authentic rural life; don't make it too deliberate. And what you said about accepting big brand ads later—we country folk are simple-hearted and don't do things that weigh on our conscience. Mom wants to promote our local specialty products. Even if I don't make money, seeing the enthusiastic comments from netizens makes me feel happy and motivated."

Jiang Yuan was silent for a moment, then asked: "Then Mom, what kind of content do you want to make?"

Jiang Lanfang said open-mindedly: "Just like the ones I've been posting lately. I think they're great. The folks all like what I post; they give me likes one after another and praise me in the comments section until I'm beaming. I wish I could edit and post ten videos a day for them to see, but filming and editing is just too draining and time-consuming. It’s hard enough to post one a day."

Jiang Yuan said: "Mom, your most popular video with over three million likes is a typical 'Sun-Drying Autumn' scene in the southern Anhui mountain villages. The farmhouse courtyard with horse-head walls, the persimmon tree heavy with fruit, bamboo baskets filled with drying crops—corn, red peppers, soybeans, sesame—and pumpkins piled casually on the ground. Yesterday you even added a basket of wild kiwis. You don't need to worry about composition; even a casual shot is so beautiful it makes people want to come here and live in seclusion. Tao Yuanming’s poem says, 'Plucking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, I gaze leisurely at the Southern Mountain,' and it's just as beautiful. But can we keep 'sun-drying autumn' forever?"

Jiang Lanfang said with great pride: "Exactly, I just think it's beautiful. At first, nobody watched my Douyin. I saw that in Wuyuan, they sun-dry autumn like that, so I followed suit and arranged the harvested crops in the courtyard to look nice, especially the pumpkins on the ground. Netizens said they wanted to steal one to take home. Some even said that me throwing the pumpkins around the yard was staged, so I argued with them in the comments for ages. When it comes to arguing, I, Jiang Lanfang, dare to claim second place, and no one dares claim first! The more we argued, the more people came to comment. Later, the video just became more and more popular; I don't even know how it happened."

Jiang Yuan laughed: "That’s the rule for getting traffic on Douyin. The more comments, the more the system determines the video has traffic, topicality, and potential, so it gives you more traffic. The more traffic, the more likes and comments—it's a virtuous cycle."

Jiang Lanfang thought for a moment: "So that's how it is. Then I'll argue with them in the comments often from now on. If anyone dares to nitpick and say I'm staging things, I'll scold them a dozen times back."

Jiang Yuan chuckled: "Mom, do you want to take the 'black-and-red' route?"

Jiang Lanfang also laughed, joking: "No matter where I am, I can never lose an argument. That’s my principle for living! Look at anyone in the village—can they out-argue me? When I got divorced and returned to the village, you wouldn't believe how many people were gossiping behind my back. I don't indulge them. Anyone who dares to wag their tongue and gets caught by me, I turn around and scold them back. Now, who dares to mess with me? Yuan, learn from your mother: if something happens, just go crazy. Never wrong yourself; keeping it inside will make you sick."

Jiang Yuan thought of the popular online phrase: "Refuse mental exhaustion, just go crazy when things happen."

Jiang Lanfang slapped her thigh: "That's exactly what it means!"

She opened Douyin again to see how many likes the video from last night had now, showing it off: "Look at the video I posted last night, it already has thirty thousand likes. They just like watching this kind of thing. Whatever they like, I'll post. As for what happens when the autumn sun-drying season is over, that's two months away. Let's manage these two months well. As the old saying goes, you can't get fat in one bite."

Thinking of something, Jiang Lanfang smiled: "Old Cheng also said that he was originally attracted by my sun-drying videos and really wanted to come sit in our courtyard. The first day he drove here himself, he asked if he could sit in the courtyard and drink some tea. I said sure, I have tea grown at home, I'll brew you a cup. He sat for three hours and didn't want to leave, watching me busy around the yard. Later, when it got dark, I asked him if he wanted to stay for dinner, and he said he didn't want to intrude. I told him not to be so polite. I made three dishes that night, and he actually said the taste was a bit like what his mom used to make. He ate two big bowls of rice in one go and asked if he could pay for his meals and come eat at my house every day."

Jiang Yuan rested her chin on her hands, listening to the gossip: "And then?"

Jiang Lanfang said: "It was just a meal, how could I take his money? I told him he could come whenever he wanted. Besides, I eat alone; having one more person is just an extra pair of chopsticks. But the next day, he still bought a lot of things to bring over, saying he couldn't eat for free. He even topped the leaderboard in my livestream with gifts. Hearing that the reservoir here was good for fishing, he comes every day to fish, and when he catches them, he brings them over for me to cook, saying it’s his meal fee. He also told me to keep filming the sun-drying videos in the yard and not to change my style—give the netizens what they want to see. Sure enough, I later posted two other types of videos, and none were as popular as the sun-drying ones. So why bother struggling with that? I won't waste the brainpower. I'll just sit under the persimmon tree and pickle kimchi, dry mustard greens, and make fermented soybeans—it's so easy."

Jiang Yuan was convinced by Jiang Lanfang: "Mom, you're right, let's do that! Let's build up the account's followers while the autumn sun-drying season is here. Once the follower count grows, there will surely be endless business opportunities. Mom, I want to go to Chengkan tomorrow to see Grandma."

Jiang Lanfang never opposed her daughter visiting her father's family. She nodded: "Go ahead, but remember to visit your maternal grandfather and grandmother at your uncle's place, too. They are busy taking care of your cousin, so they can't come back."

Jiang Yuan said: "I know, Grandma called me yesterday and asked me to have dinner at their place if I had time. I forgot to buy Shanghai specialties to bring back this time."

Jiang Lanfang said: "Your grandparents won't mind that. What can't you buy online? They'll just be happy if you go for dinner. But tomorrow when you see your grandmother, buy a box of milk and some fruit to take with you, so she doesn't say I didn't teach you well. Your grandmother likes the sour and spicy radishes I pickle; take a jar for her tomorrow, too."

Jiang Yuan said: "Okay."

That night, Jiang Yuan contacted her gaming buddy "Lone Island" on WeChat.

Jiang Yuan: [Big shot, are we still meeting up for Chengkan tomorrow?]

Lone Island: [Yes.]

Jiang Yuan: [Then I'll come find you tomorrow. I don't have a car, we might need to take a taxi.]

Lone Island: [I rented one. Just come find me tomorrow.]

Jiang Yuan: [Awesome! Which hotel are you staying at?]

Lone Island: [Tunxi, Crown, do you know where that is?]

Jiang Yuan: [I do. Then I'll come to the hotel to find you tomorrow morning. When I get to the hotel entrance, I'll message you on WeChat, and we'll head straight to Chengkan.]

Lone Island: [Alright, see you tomorrow.]

Then, he sent Jiang Yuan a photo—it was his hand-drawn sketch of the Wenfeng Bridge.

Jiang Yuan recognized it at once: [Wow, is this Wenfeng Bridge? Did you draw this, Big shot? Your technique is so good.]

Lone Island: [I plan to use it in the game's scene later. What do you think?]

Jiang Yuan: [Must be 666, please accept my worship.]